updated 10:50 am EST, Sat February 25, 2012

Galaxy S III may take pages from Nexus, iPhone

An unusual rumor Saturday may have provided some details of the Galaxy S III. Keeping with Samsung's near-tradition of increasing screen size with every new high-end conventional smartphone, the BGR source claimed it would supposedly push the screen out to 4.8 inches. The back, however, would take a partial cue from the iPhone 4 and 4S with a ceramic back, presumably to improve reception and help keep the device slim.

Samsung's decision to skip a Mobile World Congress intro was purportedly to coordinate a much larger worldwide release. The launch would involve over 50 "markets or cities," if the source is correct.

Much of the actual hardware performance is up in the air. While quad-core has been mentioned, the most likely processor choice is the Exynos 5250 dual-core chip due to enter mass production in the spring. Android 4.0 is near certain, but any other upgrades to the cameras or cellular connections are still matters of speculation rather than fact.

The absence of the phone from Mobile World Congress is rare for Samsung, which almost always has an event at the Barcelona gathering, may be an attempt to get away from the common smartphone manufacturer practice of announcing well before a device is ready. The Galaxy S II was unveiled last February, but it didn't ship to Korea until two months later and eight months later for the US. Waiting so long may have hurt the American launch by taking the Galaxy S II out of the limelight and letting Apple capture users' attention.

Android fanbois want big

smartphones. It makes them seem like bigshots to whip out some monster smartphone. Like Harry Callahan carrying a .357 Magnum instead of a .38 S&W snub-nose. The Android fanbois say it's easier to read the screen when the device is much larger. They don't have to squint with their poor eyesight. There probably isn't an upper limit on Android smartphone screen size since it can be seen as getting more bang for the buck. The bigger the better. Especially if it's bigger than the iPhone screen, they can say that the iPhone is falling well behind the hardware curve because they're still using miniature displays. You know, size matters most. Mine's bigger than yours. Haha. One thing for certain, Samsung can stick a monster-size battery in that thing and probably get some extended life and that should make any user happy. The Droid crew should be happy that they can look forward to much larger smartphones from Samsung in the future. Yo! Super-size me.

The few, the intelligent

The iPhone marks the approximate limit of how large phones can reasonably be. I suppose some could say my argument is out of jealousy and denial in order to make myself feel better for right now. For those fools *cough* Arne *cough*, I submit this: in the average hand, a phone much wider than the iPhone (.2" at the most) would begin to feel overly cumbersome and would completely eliminate single-hand usage. In my hand, the iPhone feels a little small, but then again, I would only increase it perhaps .2" at the absolute most. Phone makers have sometimes rightfully seen this (see, Apple isn't the only one who can get things right) and some phones exist with nearly the same width. However, there seems to be a trend (led primarily by Samsung) that the bigger the phone, the more you're getting. But this is the foundational and fatal issue with Samsung. They believe that by being bigger and flashier than Apple, they will win. But what good is a phone when you can hardly hold it? The same goes for height as with width. How can you reach the power button on the top without readjusting the phone in your hand? (or with these monstrosities, setting it down in order to find it) I have one friend with an Android phone that is smaller than the iPhone: it looks respectable and he easily maneuvers it in his hand. Then, I have three other friends who have large Android phones. One is nearly a square, the others are the "traditional" large Samsung style. All three appear to be incredibly uncomfortable to use, and this is proven by how my friends are constantly readjusting the phone in their hands (because it doesn't fit!!!). I have also used their phones, and I can confirm: they are not comfortable to hold. By the way, the HTC has a very inconvenient lock screen...

Apple cult followers -

lol

Replacement batteries is a 1990's and 2000's concept. Seriously Arne? Do you know anything about technology anymore? Speaking of no imagination! haha "Last year's marketing..." Or maybe truth about human hands?

And "Apple cult"? Seriously, are you 12 years old? I swear to God everyone thinks you are. I'm sorry your mommy didn't buy you an iPhone last Christmas. :(

comment title

in the 10 years i had a cell phone before i got the 4S, i never had another battery so it didn't matter if i could replace it or not. The only good thing about the replaceable battery is you can take it out when Android crashes. That has happened to my old Android device.

@fb_Alexander

iPhone 4

The first iPhone I had crashed a few times but always booted right up. Every other StupidSmartPhone from all the copy cats would crash and a hard reset is required to boot up. My iP4 has yet to crash. Sure some dumb app that was written poorly crashes, but never takes iOS with it.